Pocket Picks round-up: 26th February - No to iPhone Nano and NoDo, yes to iPad 2, HTC Facebook phones, and Android Honeycomb SDK

Welcome back to the Pocket Picks weekly round-up!

Some of you may have noticed the absence of this feature last week. Some of you may even have been in tears. Maybe all of you.

We’ve spent the week kipping out in the halls of the Fira in Barcelona, checking out handsets and generally being a bit nosey with the latest tech.

Don’t think that the Mobile World Congress has sucked up all news and left a gaping void in its place, however, as there’s plenty to get stuck into this week.

The curtain has finally lifted on when we’ll be granted a first look at the iPad 2 - March 2nd. Or next week, if you’re actually reading this on the 26th of Feb.

Despite rumours to the contrary earlier in the week, a well-connected source (Apple’s PR department) has sent out invitations with a less-than-subtle nod to the unveiling.

What to expect from the next generation from Apple tablets? All signs point to more of the same, really, with the possibility of having a front-facing camera as well as more up-to-date tech whirring (or should that be ‘quietly humming away’) inside the machine.

No doubt there will be at least one or two surprises in store, so stay tuned to Pocket Gamer as we'll covering events live from San Francisco.

The New York Times, aided by a few unnamed sources close to the matter, weighed in to quash the other Apple rumour doing the rounds last week.

The iPhone nano - otherwise known as a smaller, cheaper model to combat the rise of the mid-range Android handsets - is said to be definitely not in production as the size of the device wouldn’t necessarily translate to a cheaper machine.

The NYT did go on to say that Apple was thinking of putting cheaper components in to create a mid-range iPhone model, however.

Never one to miss a trick when it comes to producing new handsets, HTC has followed INQ’s lead and dived head-first into the murky waters of the Facebook phone (before Facebook realises what’s going on and releases its own).

Two new models of handsets - the Salsa and ChaCha - now come with a dedicated 'Facebook' button, allowing quick access to the popular social networking site without having to muddle through menus or web browsers.

As both phones are aimed at the mid-range/budget end of the market, this may turn out to be a clever move in differentiating the models when compared to other social-friendly mobiles.

Except INQ’s Facebook phones, of course.

Developers eager to get their hands on the latest version of Android were finally tossed a sweet treat this week in the shape of the Honeycomb Software Development Kit.

The first device that will ship with the latest version of the mobile OS - the Motorola Xoom tablet - is due out soon, so Google is no doubt hoping that devs will be in line ready to shower it with apps on launch day.

Compared to previous versions of Android, Honeycomb looks (on the surface at least) to be quite the departure from the norm, with a persistent home bar, live updating tiles, and an overhauled multi-tasking system.

Whether or not these new features pose an issue for updating existing apps to the new system we’ll have to wait and see.

WP7 owners who have been eagerly awaiting NoDo (aka ‘No Doughnuts’ - take that, Google!) had their hopes cruelly dashed by Microsoft this week as the company released an update solely designed to prepare phones for another update.

Not the most exciting thing in the world, that’s for sure, but still one that’s managed to court a fair chunk of controversy, especially among Samsung Omnia 7 owners who have found their handsets locking up during the update process.

Stay tuned for the update to prep phones for the update that preps phones for the update to hit Zune any time soon.